I won't back down
by The Soda-Hunter
Summary: When death takes the only people close to you, it just makes it even easier to seek revenge.
1. Bitter Beginnings

**_Hey there guys, I gave another crack at Left4Dead and decided to stick with this. So read and review as you please._**

_Chapter 1_

The streets were empty and bare, the alleyways were dark and unforgiving, and the buildings leveled in every way imaginable. The pandemic was hard on the world, but most of all in my town, we never stood a chance. I took note of the broken down and beaten barricades in front of the shops, as me and my two friends made our way through the wrecked streets. I watched from cover as I watched Derek scout ahead for any nearby dangers, seeing none he beckoned us over to him. Running as swiftly and quietly as we could me and Lynch made our way over to Derek without a sound.

"So what's the status Derek?" I asked quickly, eying the stupid grin he had on his face. "And what the fuck are you smiling about?"

"Nothing really, I mean we're alive aren't we Zach?" He replied with his grin fading slightly. Pointing across the street to a bright red steel door, he slowly exited cover, beckoning us behind him. "I think I found our new break room."

Looking over at Lynch who nodded without a word, I shrugged and followed, drawing my favorite machete just in case. It looked pretty far away from where we were standing, and even though it was a straight shot, it looked a bit suspicious to me. Continuing cautiously down the street with Lynch is careful pursuit we struggled to keep up with Derek, who was near skipping towards the open safe room door.

"Derek damn it wait up! You're going to get us all killed you bastard!" I hissed at him in hopes he could hear me. But he continued to near skip towards the sure-fire death trap that was awaiting him just ahead.

Inches away from the safe room door, a long slimy tentacle like tongue shot out from the top of the building to our left, wrapping itself around Derek and dragging him out of view. Sprinting as fast as possible me and Lynch were at the end of the street in seconds, rounding the corner I watched as I saw a horde of about thirty or so marching down the street straight for us, running up to the tongue I used the machete to chop it off as Lynch helped pick him back up. Shoving them both towards the direction of the safe room, I turned and readied my weapon for a fight.

"Zach stick together! We all gotta make it through this as a team." Lynch yelled back at me as he helped Derek limp his way into the safe room. "I am not leaving you out here by yourself!"

The horde was a sight to behold, the multitude of infected people pushing each other out of the way, vaulting over cars, manholes, and random debris in the streets to get to it's next meal. The sheer number of common infected was enough to deter anyone no matter how thick headed, the infected we strong together, and together they were heading straight for us.

"I'll be fine, just get Derek to the safe room!" I replied backing towards the safe room myself as the first infected approached me screeching and clawing.

Taking my defensive stance, I swung the machete at the zombie's head, nearly taking it completely off and watching as it dropped to the ground unmoving. Wiping my weapon off on my cargo pants I readied for another attack as this time four approached me, driving my foot into the first ones stomach I knocked it back and swung around to take the second ones arm off, preventing it from grabbing me. Though it didn't stop the other two from raking my back and shoulder with their claws. Crying out in pain I spun around to drive the weapon into the third's stomach, but as I did the machete got lodged in it's chest cavity preventing me from pulling it back out as three more infected joined the frenzy.

"Zach hold on!" I heard a voice call out as I was struck in the side of the head and knocked to the ground, with the infected beating on me and clawing my sides and back, all I could do was hold up my hands in some sort of a defensive manner.

The pain was beginning to lessen as I thought it was almost over for me, but I was wrong. Peeking through my fingers I watched the infected literally fly off me as a hand was extended, which I grabbed and used to drag myself to my feet. Getting up I was faced by no other than Derek and Lynch themselves, Derek's greasy blonde hair was matted and messy from the slime of the tongue, but he looked fit as ever, and Lynch's face was scratched up and bruised. Both were wielding shotguns, and seeing I had nothing left, Derek stepped up and offered me an Uzi as Lynch used the barrel of his gun to knock an infected away.

Happily accepting the Uzi I open fired on the rest of the horde still continuing their quick approach towards us. With a few dropping and a few more being stumbled by the rounds I slowly stepped backwards towards the safe room, followed by my friends we made our slow retreat back to safety. Stumbling through the door first I yanked the other two by their shirt collars through the door way and slammed the door shut pressing my back to it.

The banging and clawing sounds of the infected throwing themselves against the impenetrable door eventually stopped as the commons gave up, wandering off in search of a new food source. Feeling weak in the knees, I slowly slumped to the floor, taking a moment to rest. I wondered if, since the guys had found weapons, maybe they had found any medical supplies, staring down at my bloodied and torn arms and legs, I took note that I wasn't bleeding all that much however.

"Hey guys, you find anything back there? I think I might start bleeding' out any second now." I asked nervously, feeling slightly numb in my lower half.

"What's that Zach- Holy shit!" Derek near screamed staring at my torn up limbs with disgust and worry, unable to process seeing all the blood on me. "Lynch, grab a med pack, or some bandages or something dammit!"

With that Lynch strolled casually into the room tossing the medical kit off to Derek, who then tossed over my way, which I caught gratefully. Unzipping the small red kit, I sighed in relief when I saw the multiple rolls of gauze and pain killers it contained. Taking the gauze in hand first I began to bind my legs in the life saving white medical tape. Finishing up with my wrists, I turned my gaze to the painkillers, considering it didn't hurt all that much, I figured I would save the pills for later, in case anyone else needed them.

"I don't know about you two, but I think that was just fuckin' awesome!" Derek said excitedly as he paced back and forth quickly returning to seat himself next to Lynch on the couch.

"I think that you almost got us killed you god damn retard!" I near shouted at Derek across the room watching his face go from over cocky bastard, to scared child as I scolded him. "I swear to god sometimes it's like you want us all dead."

Getting back on my feet, I quickly scanned the room, by the wall to my left was a two person couch which was currently being occupied by my two friends. Just at the end of the room was a doorway that led to a small hall, which from where I was standing I could see even more doorways, but other than that the place looked destroyed. Aside from the couch that remained strangely intact, chairs, tables, picture frames, and blood was strewn callously across the room. There were holes and collosal dents in the walls with crack running up and down the length of it, I almost felt bad for whoever had holed up here.

"Well guys, I believe it's time we take a quick look around. We want to make sure we can gather as many supplies as possible." I said as I proceeded across the room to the doorway, and scanning up and down the hallway, waved my hand behind me in a 'follow me' manner.

Hearing Lynch and Derek get off the couch and follow down the hall, we made sure to double check each room up and down the hallway, but upon discovering every room was empty, we stumbled on a staircase. Taking the rail, I proceeded cautiously up the stairs, each step creaking underneath my weight. With Lynch and Derek following closely behind, our combined weight giving off a cocauphoney of creaks and squeals, we finally reached the top to enter yet another hallway. This one only had two doors across from each other as opposed to the four that were downstairs.

"Alright me and Derek, will check the one on the right, while you get the left, deal?" Lynch asked as I simply nodded in reply and proceeded to the left side door, readying my weapon.

To make sure there wasn't anything waiting for me on the other side, I gave the door a quick tap. Hearing nothing in answer, I slowly pushed the door open to be met with the horrible smell of death and decay, laying just across the room, was a body. Fighting the urge to vomit, I took notice that it was a women, from what I could tell, the top and back of her head was missing, and there was a shotgun propped against the wall next to her, blood literally layered the wall behind her. It looks like she didn't have much of a choice from what I could see, what with the carnage downstairs, I was about to turn and exit when I noticed a small slip of paper laying discarded in the corner, picking it up to examine it, I noticed there was a small poem written on it.

_Got bit,_

_Fever hit,_

_World gone to shit,_

_May as well quit._

I couldn't help but laugh a little at the small bit of poetry that poor girl had managed to pull out before opting out. I guess even the suicides had some small bit of humor to them.

"Hey Zach we found some more-whoa." Derek said suddenly stopping when he laid his eyes on the body. "Hey Lynch get in here, I think we found Zach a potential girlfriend!"

"Go fuck yourself Derek, at least I got a better chance then you." I said with a chuckle, by that time Lynch had entered the room, and backed out the instant he did, after seeing the body.

"But seriously guys, this is just sad. We shouldn't be joking about this, we should at least move her or something. I mean what did you guys find in the other room?" I asked looking to Lynch for an answer.

"We found some more ammo and medical supplies." He answered in a hushed tone. "There's plenty for us if you want to go stock up now." he said walking back into the other room across the way.

With a nod, I bent down to take the shotgun from the bloodied mess that layed propped against the wall. Exiting the room, I shut the door as quietly as possible behind Derek, as I feared that if I made too much noise she may rise yet again. Following the two into the other room I stumbled upon the multiple piles of assorted ammo that were layed in neat piles all over the room. Marveling in the miracle that was ammunition, I took note of the four med packs in the corner, all neatly stacked together in a row against the wall.

"I think someone's looking after us guys, I honestly do." Derek said with a smile, digging through the boxes of twelve gauge shells, reloading his shotgun in the process. "I mean whoever left this for us here was very well organized."

I nodded in agreement as I began looking for the ammunition for the Uzi and the pump action I had just acquired. It was a few moments of digging through the piles before I finally found the ammo I was looking for, sitting just next to it was another slip of paper, much resembling the first.

_Good luck to you traveler,_

_remember strength lies in numbers,_

_hold your friends close._

Quickly folding the piece of paper up and shoving it hastily in my pocket, I began to load the Uzi. "So you guys find out what you're looking for?" I asked getting a nod from both.

"Well then I think I'm going to go get cleaned up." I said staring down at my bloodied clothes and setting the two weapons down. "I'll be back."

Proceeding down the stairs to the bathroom we had previously found, I stared in the mirror at my greasy, bloody, and matted, black hair as I turned the faucet on, which to my surprise actually yielded water. The water was cold, but much welcomed as I rinsed my hands and ran them through my hair, making an attempt to wash the blood away, my clothes were gonna be a challenge, but I would worry about them later as I moved to rinsing my face. The removal of the grime and blood revealed several scratches and bruises.

With that I was done washing, I flicked the light off and exited, quietly shutting the door behind me. Returning to the staircase, I grabbed the rail and repeated my ascent, reaching the second floor in just a few moments. I walked back into the munition room to find the two of them propped against opposite walls, sleeping soundly. Looking out the window I noticed it was getting dark, so following suit, I propped myself against the wall near Lynch.

Slowly drifting off to sleep, I thought of the girl just across the hall, and how she had managed to get into the mess she must've been in. I also wondered to myself if she had been the one that laid out all the supplies for us. These questions would probably never be answer I thought to myself as I slowly and silently fell asleep.

Tomorrow is a new day.

_**There's a Walking Dead reference in here somewhere if you read enough to find it, tune in next time to find out who's leaving all these mysterious notes!**_


	2. Two down, Next up

**_Hey guys don't say anything about the possible poor quality of this chapter, I was tired when inspiration struck, I do not own Valve or Treyarch, and Hazel don't hit me if I got your character wrong._**

_Chapter 2_

My steps sounded heavy on the sidewalk as I bolted down the street from the approaching group of infected, I had lost Lynch and Derek in the attack a few blocks back. It surprised me I was still running after about fifteen minutes, my feet were starting to hurt and it was hard to breath, the only thing I could hear at the time however was the blood pounding in my ears. I had dropped my weapon at the curb a few yards behind when it had finally run out of ammo, I was defenseless, and the most I could do now was run and hope I found a safe house soon.

It felt like I could run faster than the wind as I sped down the street with infinite agility, even despite this though the infected were starting to catch up. In my quick glance back at the infected, it was only a moment before I felt my foot snag on the sidewalk as my view sank down while I hit the pavement. I took a second to roll over and face the horde as I began scooting backwards on the pavement, in a rather feeble attempt at escape. Pulling out my very small pocket knife, I readied to give my last stand effort as the horde drew near, snarling, clawing, biting, anything in their power to reach their next meal.

"Come get me fuckers, I swear to god I'll give you indigestion!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I continued to inch backwards, awaiting my impending death. I was only able to get back up on my feet for a moment however, before tripping yet again and hitting my head against the cement.

The world was spinning, ever shape, outline, infected, all I could see were doubles, I had that sort of drunken feeling as I watched them get closer. This had to be it, Derek and Lynch were most likely dead, and there was nobody else in town to save me as far as I could see. I gripped my eyes shut as I awaited my swift and painful death, leaving me as yet another matching corpse on the streets of the town...or worse, one of _them._ I kept my eyes shut, and for a moment...it felt as though none of it was happening, as if it was all a dream, just a very simple, yet lasting nightmare. I felt free for a moment, until I felt the first infected's foot slam down on my right shoulder as I gasped in pain, and then it hit me.

I"m not finished yet, there's still a lot to do and only a few more years for me to do it, or more. Point is I wasn't going to lay down for these sorry bastards, strength surged through my body as my head cleared and I stabbed my knife straight through the right eye socket of the infected, there was a crunch as I felt my knife hit the back of it's skull. In the back of my head I could hear the echoes of my favorite song play through.

_Down with all that's good and clean!_

_You can't fucking annihilate me!_

"You took Lynch and Derek, you took my family, my friends, everything I had, and now I'm taking what's left back!" I screamed as I dislodged the knife, tossing the infected into the crowd giving me enough time to ready for another assault.

The first infected took me by surprise as it charged faster than I could bring up my hands, forcing me to grapple with it for a few moments, just before it could back me up, I gave a quick anger fueled shove and tossed it back, turning to impale another zombie in the skull. With that however my knife was gone, and so was my fighting option, looking down at my bloody and battered hands, one word popped into my head, momentary and simple "fuck it". I winded back for the first blow of the infected running at me, followed by two others.

This was my stand I guess, my last ditch effort, my desperation move so to speak. I just didn't think I would end up going out like this, weapon-less, and powerless, but again...why not? Fuck it right, gonna die anyway.

But the second before I could throw my first punch, the sound of thunder rang out as two of the common infected in front of me exploded in a bloody mess, dropping to the ground at my feet. I took a moment to look around, though I couldn't see anything, it puzzled me to think who could've fired that shot when a voice sounded from above.

"Hey dumb ass, up here!" A girl shouted from a fire escape about thirty feet directly above my head. "There's a safe house in the back alley around the corner, get there, I'll keep you covered!" She ordered dropping down what at first seemed like a small black box and two rectangles, until I was struck in the head with a falling glock with two clips.

Loading the glock and shoving the other pistol in my cargo pocket I yelled up at the girl as I backed away heading for the corner only a few feet away. "Thanks lady, I'll be there!" I shouted as I turned and bolted for the corner rounding it only to be met with a great wall of rough skin ramming me into the building across the street.

The monstrosity lifted me high above it's head slowly at first, then swiftly and painfully slammed me into the concrete. I felt the ability to breath leave me as the wind was knocked out of me, leaving me gasping for what little air I could manage. I could feel my ribs starting to give out as the beast finally dropped me, falling backwards dead, I choked for a moment as I tried to regain my breath. I was going to live, but I had to get to the safe house behind the building. Half limping, half running, I fired my pistol at the few infected that had decided to ignore the girl up on the balcony.

The commons dropped quickly as the girl was finishing up the last of the ten or so that still remained just behind me as I rounded the corner into the alley, taking note of the bright red steel door that made me feel so welcome. Hobbling into it as fast as I could manage, slamming the door shut and slouching down to the floor as I took a moment to relax, I was alive, I was safe...and I had found another survivor. I just hoped this one wouldn't end up like my other two friends. Poor Lynch, quietest guy of us three, I was never one to pick favorites, but I would miss Lynch the most, he had seemed so hopeful when we found out there was a one way ticket out of town. Then of course there was Derek, who ended up complaining once he had found out we would be taking a helicopter, his speech reminded me of the character I hated most from one of my games.

With all these memories, it brought tears to my eyes, knowing that they were gone, and it was very unlikely I was ever going to see them again, and if I did, it wouldn't be on very memorable terms. Rising to my feet the best I could I looked around only to find myself staring down the barrel of a rifle, and at the end of it, was the girl from just a few moments ago.

"Name." She said quickly and emotionless, she looked no older than fourteen and had an interesting light brown color to her skin, he long black hair reaching just past her shoulders, her dirt gold _"THIS IS SPARTA!"_ brought a slight smile to my face as I noticed the gray hoodie wrapped carelessly around the waist of her baggy brown pants, right down to her plain gray sneakers.

"Zach." I replied quickly and quietly, not daring to move, and unsure if she had noticed me looking her up and down.

With that she pulled the rifle back to sling it over her shoulder, offering her hand. "Kimmy, Kimmy Troat, glad you made it." she said politely offering her hand, which I reluctantly took and shook firmly, making sure not to start off with the wrong impression.

"So Kimmy...how long have you been here?" I asked as I followed her up the stairs of the building, passing room after room throughout the halls of the apparently apartment building we were currently housed in. Blood stains and hand prints marked the walls and floor in various places...which I had realized only shortly after I found myself slipping yet again onto a hardwood floor.

Seeing my plight Kimmy reluctantly backed up a few steps and offered her hand, helping me to my feet. "Only a few days, you'd be surprised at what kind of things people leave behind in an epidemic, the thing is, I haven't exactly been able to leave."

"What do you mean?" Now I was interested, had this girl really survived up here on her own for more than a day?

"Well the thing is, I got here on pure luck, I honestly can't believe I'm still in one piece myself. But due to the increase in special infected recently, it makes it hard for me to go outside, lucky for me, I've got plenty of ammo for this rifle and that pistol." She finished pointing at three neatly stacked boxes labeled "7.62 mm rifle rounds".

"I see, and the only reason you helped me out, is so I can help you out, is that right?" I was starting to get the feeling that this could go downhill for me very fast.

"Not entirely true, strength lies in numbers right? I mean there's no way you made it here by yourself, you had to have been with someone, weren't you?"

With that I remembered the thoughts that had run through my mind not five minutes before, my two best friends on the planet were probably dead...or worse. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes as they rolled down my cheeks, eventually dropping to the floor.

Probably realizing she had struck a nerve, she set her rifle down on the coffee table to her left and rested her hand on my shoulder. "Hey, we've all lost people ok? It's not the end of the world...it just gives us a reason to fight harder."

With a nod I wiped the tears off my face and sat down against the wall next to the door way. "So what do we do now?" I asked quickly as I felt my aching side.

"For now, we rest I guess, you're pretty banged up, and you can look around the building later, sound good to you?" She asked, as I replied with a nod, and closed my eyes, leaning my head back against the wall.

The note writer was right, strength in numbers. And I had to be thankful for who I was with right now, cause she's all I've got.

_**This chapter's not as short as it seems...well maybe it is, but it will get better and tune in next week for another exciting episode!**_


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